Bryant Resting, but Defense on 1-1 Trip Is Another Sore Subject

The Lakers are great when it’s worth the trouble, but sometimes they have neither the legs nor the heart for it, proving they can be had in winter, if not in spring.

They pick their moments, often right in the middle of them, and a December Friday night at Memphis apparently was not the time and not the place and certainly not the defense. The Lakers were respectfully glum afterward, because there is a swirling humiliation to it, from the smirk on Jason Williams’ face to the frown on Phil Jackson’s.

Also, there was Kobe Bryant’s physical condition to consider. On his way to 50 points or more--”It was going to be,” Bryant said--he suffered a strain in his right side, and barely made it off the court toward the end of the third quarter. Bryant had his midsection wrapped and talked his way back into the game in the fourth quarter, a decision Jackson regretted afterward. Bryant’s grace was gone, and so too was the game, 114-108.

The Lakers did not practice Saturday, and Bryant rested. He was treated at home with ice and other therapy, and probably will receive more of the same today. It is unknown if he will be able to play Tuesday against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Lakers will take a 19-4 record, but they had hoped to have rid themselves of the character flaw that allows every bad team to play at least even with them.

Jackson wondered afterward why Shaquille O’Neal didn’t carry the fourth quarter, perhaps because he remained put off by the night before, when O’Neal over-napped in Houston and lacked energy. But O’Neal did what he could, and his job description generally does not include putting a hand in the face of Williams on a 23-foot jump shot.

“We had problems on defense,” O’Neal said. “We’ve just got to keep people from scoring.”

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Teams have taken to spreading their offenses against the Lakers, running high screen-and-rolls, and then looking to lure O’Neal away from the basket.

Eddie Griffin and Cuttino Mobley scared the Lakers with it in Houston, and Williams and Brevin Knight finished them with it a night later in Memphis.

Judging by what Mobley did, and then by Williams and Knight, the Lakers have issues about their team defense again, and at a bad time. Allen Iverson’s going to put up 30 shots on Christmas night, and what happens after that depends on how many go in.

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The Lakers were outplayed in the fourth quarters of both games on the trip.

The Rockets scored 33 points, and lost narrowly with a lineup whose reasonable expectation is a summer-league title. Guards Mobley and Moochie Norris combined to make seven of 10 field goals, for 19 points.

The Grizzlies, who won six games before Friday, scored 34 points in the fourth quarter, and won, going away, with Ike Austin, Stromile Swift and Pau Gasol defending O’Neal. Williams and Knight combined for 18 points on six-of-eight shooting.

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The Lakers were 16-1 on Dec. 5 and have lost three times since, twice to teams that probably won’t qualify for the playoffs. They are 5-3 in December, by far their lightest month.

If playing successive games bothered them, it shouldn’t have, because it was the first time they had done so in three weeks. They’ll have seven in January and February.

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Jackson, who briefly favored a quarter-by-quarter platoon at point guard, appears to have settled on a rotation that favors Derek Fisher.

Fisher played 33 minutes in each of the games at Houston and Memphis, while Lindsey Hunter played a season-low 13 in Houston, followed by a new season-low nine in Memphis.

In the latter game, Hunter played before dozens of friends and relatives from nearby Jackson, Miss., where he was raised.

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One-season-and-out Laker Horace Grant said this week he would retire after the season. If he sticks by it, the decision will cost him half of his two-year contract with the Orlando Magic.

The guarantee of a second year, along with the chance to live in his Orlando home, was the reason Grant turned down a one-year offer from the Lakers in the off-season, and the reason the Lakers chased and signed free agent Samaki Walker.

After some growing pains, Walker has had some success beside O’Neal. On the two-game trip, he averaged 8.5 points and 9.5 rebounds.

In the meantime, Robert Horry continues to struggle with his shot. He was two for 13 on the trip and is eight for 40 from the floor in December.